The St. Petersburg Opera has it all in its ninth season of mainstage productions scheduled for the Palladium Theater, announced Thursday. The opera is a professional company casting singers from around the world and musicians from the Florida Orchestra and beyond.

The 2014-15 lineup opens with Pagliacci (Oct. 17, 19, 21), the Ruggero Leoncavallo opera that reminds us clowns are people, too. The opera will be presented in conjunction with a Neapolitan festival, a re-creation of an Italian village fair with folk songs and Italian arias.

At Seasonal Sparkle, the opera's holiday fest (Dec. 21-22), the chorus and orchestra will join soloists in selections including Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams, St. Paul's Suite by Gustav Holst and Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Gustav Mahler.

Everyone can root for Rosina in Gioachino Rossini's beloved opera buffa (comic!), The Barber of Seville (Jan. 30, Feb. 1 and 3). She's all set to marry her old coot guardian when she meets a rich count disguised as a poor student trying to win her love.

Ever have a date who just doesn't get what you're trying to say? You'll relate to Giacomo Puccini's tale of Turandot (June 5, 7, 9, 2015), the princess who beheads men who can't answer her three riddles. When a mysterious prince gets it right and wins her hand in marriage, he gives her a chance to leave if she can figure out who he really is. St. Petersburg native Alexandra LoBianco returns home to tackle the role of the princess.

The season closes with Stephen Sondheim's Putting it Together (June 26, 28, 30, 2015), set at a high-society party populated with couples in rocky relationships. It's a complement to St. Petersburg Opera's past Sondheim productions including Into the Woods, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd.

Every month from October through May 2015, the opera will present Evenings and Mornings with the Maestro at the Music Gallery in Clearwater and the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. The programs blend songs with education, with maestro Mark Sforzini.

TAMPA — The Ballet Nacional de Cuba performed Giselle, its signature ballet, on Wednesday at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts. Fifty-four dancers charmed a packed house, culminating in about two hours an effort that took more tha...

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CLEARWATER — Hat Trick Theatre, the resident company of Ruth Eckerd Hall, closes out its season with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. I must say it’s a stark choice, mainly because I can’t get two sentences into this without using the word "stark....

For decades, the reputation of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba has never dropped below excellent. In a country that prides itself on art, the company represents the best of the best, with a colorful style all its own, a blend of Russian precision and an ...

HUDSON — What to do in the golden years? Early bird specials, doctor’s appointments, figuring out who to leave what in your will? Or maybe just take some time out for a few laughs about the situation.A local production of Ain’t Retirement Grand! migh...

TAMPA — The Florida Orchestra wraps up its final masterworks concert of the season with a masterfully complex Johannes Brahms piano concerto and Ludwig van Beethoven’s warmly accessible Symphony No. 6, commonly known as the "Pastoral."Friday’s sold-o...

TAMPA — The Florida Orchestra will begin tutoring at-risk children free of charge, thanks to a Hillsborough County grant.The $80,000 grant to the University Area Community Development Corp. pays for six weeks of violin instruction at select recreatio...

GRAND MASTERS: BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMSIt’s last call for the Florida Orchestra’s masterworks season. And why not close out the 50th season with two passionate cannon blasts, Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, better known as th...

NEW PORT RICHEY — DO. NOT. MISS. THIS. SHOW.I’m talking about The Addams Family, the musical comedy based on the Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons, several television series and two feature films, but with updated cultural references for current au...

Oh, how I wish this could be a glowing review of the dramedy Calendar Girls, playing weekends through May 20 at Stage West Community Playhouse.The show about longtime friends semi-baring their bosoms to make a calendar to raise money to buy a sofa fo...

The Tampa Bay theater scene is vibrant one, with American Stage, Jobsite Theater, Freefall Theater and other local acting companies. This is your source for theater reviews and news about local theater companies and touring Broadway shows at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Ruth Eckerd Hall and the Mahaffey Theater.